Foreword

The Government of the Slovak Republic has a strong mandate to translate the current political momentum on anti-corruption into impactful reforms. The concern over corruption was a key campaign issue in the 2019 Slovak presidential election and the 2020 parliamentary election, and remains at the forefront of public debate. In 2018, thousands of Slovaks took to the streets to protest corruption in response to the murder of an investigative journalist and his fiancee. Moreover, the 2020 Eurobarometer Survey showed that 87% of individuals consider corruption to be widespread in the Slovak Republic, compared to an EU average of 37% (European Commission, 2020). In addition, 52% of Slovaks believe that corruption has increased over the last three years.

Having taken office in 2021, the Government of the Slovak Republic has made it clear that anti-corruption and integrity efforts require bold action. This OECD Integrity Review forms part of that action, and aims to support the Government Office of the Slovak Republic in delivering on its democratic commitments and to help strengthen the Government’s measures to combat corruption.

The Review builds on the longstanding co-operation between the Slovak Republic and the OECD on public integrity and analyses key elements of the Slovak Republic’s integrity system, namely the anti-corruption strategy, integrity standards, risk management, a whole-of-society approach against corruption, and lobbying. It provides recommendations in line with international good practices and the 2017 OECD Recommendation on Public Integrity, such as ensuring coherence in strategic anti-corruption policy measures, strengthening corruption risk management practices, and improving the regulatory framework for interactions between the public and private sectors.

The review was approved by the OECD Working Party of Senior Public Integrity Officials (SPIO) on 14 January 2022 and declassified by the Public Governance Committee on 14 February 2022.